[193]
Apart from that, if he had injured you
as an enemy, but had been reformed after claiming to be your friend, such an
excuse might, perhaps, have been acceptable; but, inasmuch as that is not so,
and as most of his deceptions fall after the date of his profession of
friendship, you ought to distrust him for his later, if not to dislike him for
his earlier, conduct. With regard, however, to not being
“vindictive,” I have this to say. The vindictive man is the
man who hunts up grievances in order to inflict injury; the man who bears them
in mind in order to be on his guard and not suffer injury, is a reasonable man.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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